"Way Away" is the debut single by American band

Yellowcard Yellowcard is an American rock band who formed in Jacksonville, Florida, in 1997. Their official lineup currently consists of lead singer Ryan Key, lead guitarist Ryan Mendez, bassist Josh Portman and violinist Sean Mackin. Primarily a pop- ...

. It is the opening track of their fourth album '' Ocean Avenue''. "Way Away" was released to radio on July 22, 2003. The song and

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

both reflect the band's choice about leaving their hometown of

Jacksonville, Florida Jacksonville ( ) is the most populous city proper in the U.S. state of Florida, located on the Atlantic coast of North Florida, northeastern Florida. It is the county seat of Duval County, Florida, Duval County, with which the City of Jacksonv ...

to California in hopes of making a name for themselves in the Southern California music scene. The song was featured on the

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

soundtracks to both ''

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'' and ''

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''.

Background

In an interview, former Yellowcard lead guitarist

Ben Harper Benjamin Charles Harper (born October 28, 1969) is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music, and he is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, liv ...

said that "Way Away" is "about our band and facing the people who didn't believe in what we were doing. That's kind of like an ode to disbelievers." In another interview, vocalist

Ryan Key William Ryan Key (born December 17, 1979) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Yellowcard. He is the owner/operator of a recording studio in Jacksonville, Florida, called The Lone ...

, in discussion of the song, said: "It's the story we have sort of been through as a band in the last couple of years, moving from our hometown in acksonville,Florida, out to outhernCalifornia and starting to tour really hard and just sort of following our dreams. Hopefully other people will take that song and apply it to their own lives and be able to kind of get out of whatever they are stuck in and don't want to be in." Key also revealed that the song was "harder than some of our other songs, hereas'Ocean Avenue' is kind of in the middle of the spectrum of where the record goes."

Track listing

#"Way Away" - 3:22 #"Hey Mike" - 4:01 #"Avondale" (Acoustic) - 3:37 #"Way Away" (Video) #Behind the Scenes Footage (Video)

Music video

Directed by Patrick Hoelck, The video starts out with the band members pulling up in a

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car in a vacant parking lot and begin setting up their gear and start playing in front of a supermarket. The band's frontman,

is shown in from several scenes of the video showing him loading his car and moving away from his job, family, and his girlfriend and writing the lyrics of "Way Away". The video ends after Ryan and band are singing to a self-image of himself and drives away in the distance. The video was shot in front of the "Super A Foods" Market store in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

on July 1, 2003.

Reception

Allmusic gave the song a positive review, by saying " ay Awaythrives on the basics of rock & roll — foliated guitars weaved in between high-speed percussion." Chris Conlon of the ''

Telegraph Herald The ''Telegraph Herald'', locally referred to as the ''TH'', is a daily newspaper published in Dubuque, Iowa, for the population of Dubuque and surrounding areas in Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in ...

'' said he was "dumbfounded" when he listened to the song. Conlon goes on to say, "The song basically says that you are the master of your destiny, that no one can stand in your way."

Weekly charts

References

External links

Official website

The Yellowcard Wiki
{{Authority control 2003 songs 2003 debut singles Yellowcard songs Capitol Records singles Song recordings produced by Neal Avron Songs written by Ryan Key